List of Famous people who died in 2002

Oreste Piccioni was an Italian-American physicist who made important contributions to elementary particle physics during the early years of its history. He was a graduate student of Enrico Fermi at the University of Rome, receiving his doctorate in 1938. Remaining in Italy during World War II, he did fundamental research under difficult conditions in the basement of a high school, which first clarified the nature of the muon.

Jesse Leonard Greenstein was an American astronomer. His parents were Maurice G. and Leah Feingold.

Fredrick Kenneth Hare, was a Canadian climatologist and academic, who researched atmospheric carbon dioxide, climate change, drought, and arid zone climates and was a strong advocate for preserving the natural environment.

Ernest Pintoff was an American film and television director, screenwriter and film producer.

Everhardus Jacobus Ariëns was a Dutch pharmacologist and professor at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. He made important contributions to the function of receptors and the mathematical description of ligand–receptor interactions. Moreover, Everhardus Ariëns was the initiator for the collection of stereochemistry in drug development and spearheading the development of enantiopure drugs.

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Vlasov was a Soviet politician, who held different positions, including interior minister and prime minister. He was the last communist prime minister of Russia, and a close ally of Mikhail Gorbachev.